Tag Archives: supplemental reading

As you munch away on turkey leftovers (or just enjoy a normal day) I hope you find something below that’s food for thought (sorry for the pun… okay, not really).

On Not Being Controlled by Fear: The Murky Waters of Fearless FaithWhen people ask me if and how my theology has changed since getting an education (college, then seminary), I say yes and no, but the most significant change is that I have quit believing in religion based on fear.
–> This is from my number one newly favorite blog!

On President Obama’s Christian Faith: The Gospel According to Obama“Barack Obama has referred to his faith more times than most presidents ever have, but for many it’s the wrong kind of faith,” says Jim Wallis, head of Sojourners, an evangelical activist group based in Washington that focuses on poverty and social justice issues.

On sex trafficking being a local problem: Child Sex Trafficking: A Domestic ProblemEvery single day, girls in Los Angeles are kidnapped and coerced by traffickers and pimps into a life of sexual slavery and violence. The average age of entry into this life is 12 years old — the age of a child in seventh grade. There are hundreds of children affected by this crisis in LA alone.

On Being Peace Makers: The Peace of Keeping The Darkness At BayAs peacemakers, we must train even more, so that the darkness might not overwhelm. If peace is to come, we must seek first that Kingdom whose Prince is Peace. We are here to visit great and terrible grace on those who need it, and we must be well-versed in the means and methods of that Love that enables and empowers us to keep the darkness at bay.

On deciding which lives matter: Friday’s on Faith and Politics: Lives MatterThe fact that I was lucky enough to be born here in the United States does not make my life more valuable than someone born elsewhere. Nothing about the United States makes protecting innocent life at home worth shedding innocent blood abroad. When we deny this fact, we are denying the very essence of personhood that the Imageo Dei, the image of God, imparts to each and every one of us.

Rachel Held Evans on the story of Esther has been an awesome series. I especially liked part three: Esther, Actually: Vashti, the Other QueenI suspect that this is why the Jews dress up in costume, feast, celebrate, and laugh in response to a story about their near destruction as a people.They laugh because they are in on the secret: that they serve a God who uses indentured eunuchs to change the course of history, orphan girls to reverse the decisions of kings, and rebellious pagan queens to put it all in motion.

Beautiful, beautiful words on starting where you are: Remembering Rain and JulyYou must live with words the way you live the moment of storm, allow every sound to find you, to remember your face, let happen to you a music that glistens with the mad rush of meaning, hope, and attention. You understand this is what you must carry, the text of these moments, these turnings, when the world awakens as an egress to the holy.

On recent events that matter to your ministry: Word War, Religious “Nones”, a Leap of Faith, and a Nobel Prize
The section on the “nones” really caught my eye:If churches and ministries want to reach these “nones,” it will be through practices rather than beliefs. Nearly all “nones”—88 percent—say they are not looking for a religion to fit their beliefs. They see religious institutions as too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules, and too involved in politics. For many, the church has become the primary barrier to a relationship with God—this is a failure, a massive one, on the part of the church to reflect the glory of God.

On Jesus & Women: Jesus was Otherwise EngagedJesus is why mystic Julian of Norwich in 1393 wrote the first book in English written by a woman, “The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love,” which is so profound that it is studied to this day.Jesus is why women have traveled continents, spent decades learning a strange language so they could translate the Gospel, planting churches, caring for the sick, educating the illiterate and marching for the oppressed.Is it possible that our world has still not caught up to Jesus?

On Numbers and Success: It’s All about the NumbersIf we want to know if a particular ministry is being “successful” we should ask the following question: What signs of the kingdom have we seen or experienced during the past week? All other measurements of success fall subservient to that single question.

On A New Vision Statement: Just Give Me JesusComing up with a vision statement has been ingrained in my mind and it got to the point that I felt inadequate as a pastor if I did not have a cool vision statement that no other church had. Do you know how hard it is to come up with a vision statement? I have spent hours praying and even fasting over a vision statement, thinking that a vision statement would instantly grow my church.

On Being Relevant, Popular, and Contextual: Be Irrelevant…being relevant is one of the biggest scams Satan has sold the 21st century Church (especially in the US). Millions of people have sold out to the whims of pop-culture (and yes, there’s a difference) in the name of relevancy.We say we’re being relevant by immersing ourselves in The Bachelor or in Twilight or even (heaven forbid) The Hunger Games. We say we’re trying to be relevant by obsessing over how we look or the latest fashion trends. We say we’re trying to be obedient to being “all things to all people,” but in the end, we simply look confused.We have to stop pretending we don’t enjoy these things, people. We like shows like The Bachelor and movies like The Hunger Games. We don’t just watch them under some misguided guise of relevancy. We watch them because we enjoy them.

On A Generation That’s Staying Home: The Go-Nowhere GenerationPerhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook. In a study of 15 countries, Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (who also contributed to the D.M.V. research), found that when young people spent more time on the Internet, they delayed getting their driver’s licenses. “More time on Facebook probably means less time on the road,” he said. That may mean safer roads, but it also means a bumpier, less vibrant economy.

On Being Yourself – Not a Role: How to Attend a Conference as YourselfMy sense of self is dangerously close to my sense of role. I’m a writer, a speaker, a consultant, a father, a husband, a skier, etc. But who am I when I’m not actively being those things? Who am I’m without my accomplishments — past, present, or future?Just me. Which, it turns out, was unsettling.

What about you? What’s caught your eye? What’s happening over on your blog?